Satellite Phone Plus Mac
by NativeStar
Summary: December 23rd and Mac is home, alone and missing Jack. Set post season 3.


It was December 23rd and Mac was feeling sorry for himself. They'd finished up a mission that morning and following the debriefing Matty had dismissed them with strict orders not to show their faces at work until after Christmas. They'd all gone their separate ways after that.

Mac had joked he was going home to sleep until New Years.

Bozer was spending time with Leanna at her place.

Riley had gone to see her mom.

He wasn't sure what Desi was doing except she'd left the building pretty quickly so he guessed it was a date. Mac didn't want to think about how he felt about that.

Matty hadn't said what her plans were either but Mac suspected she was trying to avoid telling him that she was going to see James. His relationship with his dad was still strained and although Mac had invited him over on Christmas day he still didn't know if his father would turn up or if it would be just another disappointment.

So Mac was sat at home. Alone and feeling lost. He hadn't even bothered turning the Christmas lights on. He felt a bit guilty with feeling sorry for himself. What did he have to complain about? He was home and he was safe. The mission was a success and no one had gotten hurt. His friends were spending time with their loved ones, he wouldn't begrudge them that and he was seeing them all tomorrow anyway for their Christmas Eve party. In fact, he should probably make the most of the time and start cleaning the place up a bit. They'd left in a rush on the last mission and there were still dirty dishes in the kitchen and clutter everywhere in the lounge. The fire pit needed cleaning out and the snow machine needed fixing.

But Mac sat on the sofa and felt sorry for himself, because he was alone and Jack had never let him be alone at Christmas and _dammit_, Mac missed him. _Really_ missed him. To make matters worse not only would Jack not be joining them this Christmas but he was in the middle of absolutely nowhere and could not even be contacted. They'd planned a Christmas Eve Skype call with Jack and the whole team which Matty had unfortunately had to tell him last week wasn't going to be possible.

Mac had tried to hide his disappointment but he knew he'd done a poor job. Calls from Jack had been sporadic at best and Mac had been looking forward to seeing his best friend even if it was just on a screen. To have it abruptly taken away had left him in such a bad mood that he'd spent the day snapping at everyone. It was also probably why he'd been struggling to get into the festive spirit this year. He'd finished his Christmas shopping a fortnight ago but half the gifts were sitting unwrapped under his bed. They'd only decorated the house last week after _days_ of Bozer nagging Mac.

Although Mac still had a few presents left to wrap, it seemed other people hadn't had that problem. There were about a dozen presents already sitting under the tree. He instantly recognised Bozer's immaculately neat wrapping and scrawled handwriting on a few of the tags. And Riley's more messy attempts that she tried to cover with the largest bows and ribbons she could find. There were also a few he couldn't figure out from a distance. Leanna maybe?

Then all of a sudden, one of the presents under the tree started ringing like a phone.

_What the hell?_

Mac stared at it for a fraction of a second before he flew off the sofa and grabbed a small box wrapped in dancing penguins paper. A ringing present left by persons unknown in his house? His anger started to build. With his history it was unlikely to be a good thing and was it really too much to ask to enjoy a few days of Christmas without being targetted by criminals or psychopaths?

Did Mason have his address?

Was it a trigger for a bomb?

A ransom demand by a cartel?

He ripped the paper off and nearly dropped the box as the loose lid fell off to reveal a satellite phone. He took a moment to take a deep breath before answering.

"Hello?"

"Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas! Who is this?" A familiar but confused voice answered.

"Jack?"

"Mac?"

"What? How are- I thought you were-" Mac stuttered. "You know what, it doesn't matter. Are you okay?" Mac was smiling like a kid on Christmas day.

"Am _I_ okay? You sound like you weren't expecting this call."

"I wasn't, the phone was wrapped up under my Christmas tree and it just started ringing."

"Huh." Jack said. "Well, we can figure that out later. I've only got an hour before I have to catch an ex-fil flight so-"

"So lets make the most of it." Mac finished, still smiling. "How are you? You okay? Are you safe?"

"I'm fine, I'm okay and I'm more than safe." Jack answered. "I'd rather have my partner watching my back but if I'm honest there's been days here recently that I've been pretty glad you're not here. We've had some close calls."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Mac said sincerely as he shifted to sit crossed legged by the tree. He leaned over to switch the power on for the lights.

"Thanks, but everyone's okay so there's still a lot to be thankful for this Christmas. How are you?"

"We're good. We just got back from a mission and we've all got a few days off now. Bozer's making up for missed time with Leanna and Riley's gone to see her mom. Everyone's coming around tomorrow for the Christmas eve feast."

"That sounds fun. I'm sorry I'm missing it."

"Me too." Mac agreed quietly. A phone call was a poor substitute for the real thing.

"And how are you, Mac?"

"Didn't I already answer that?"

"Yeah, nice try."

"I'm fine."

"Uh-huh. See that sounds about a 3 on the Macgyver scale of fine. Which isn't really fine at all."

"I _will_ be fine." Mac corrects. "Its just not been an easy year, you know?"

"I know, buddy."

"Some of it has really, _really_ sucked."

"Yeah." There wasn't much Jack could say to that. The dark days had been pretty dark and it wasn't showing much signs of improvement. Charlie was still dead. Mason still had who-knows-what plans to hurt him and those he cared about. His dad who he was barely speaking to still had cancer. His last call with Jack a month ago had left Jack about thirty seconds from abandoning his mission and leaving on the next flight to LA.

"But it's not all been bad, right?" Jack's voice pulled him out of his spiralling thoughts. "You met Desi, right? She's good, isn't she?"

"She's great. She's been the only good thing about you leaving."

"You sure?" Jack teased and Mac could hear Jack's smile in his voice. "You really miss me chomping on chips in the car? Endless references to Die Hard? Helicopter parenting?"

"I've missed some things more than others now that you mention it." Mac smiled. "I hate to ask, but is there any chance you're coming home soon?"

"Sorry, pal. It doesn't look like it. I wish I was. I wish I was there right now."

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry. This has gotta be worse for you, I mean at least I've still got the rest of our family."

"I've got the rest of the unit here and we've bonded some. You know how it is, friendships forged in adversity. We're going to celebrate Christmas as best we can out here. They're not family, but I'm not alone."

"That's good." Mac shifted on the floor, his legs were starting to protest the hard surface so he got up and stretched, wandering over to the kitchen. "You know, this is the first Christmas we haven't spent together since we met."

"I know." Jack said and Mac wondered if Jack's surprise when he answered the phone was truly genuine. He wouldn't put it past the man to be watching out for him over however many thousands of miles away he was.

"Hey, you remember the year Bozer tried to send some Christmas pastrami to us in the sandbox?" Jack asked.

"Oh yeah." Mac laughed. "That was a disaster. I don't know what happened to it but by the time it reached us it was practically its own ecosystem."

"And it stunk."

"So bad."

"But at least we found a use for it."

"Yeah, he never managed to get the smell out of his office, you know. I went in there months later and I swear I could still smell it."

"He was a prick, he deserved it."

"No arguments here, I was the one who suggested it, you just encouraged me."

Mac grabbed a beer out of the fridge. He propped the phone against his ear as he took the cap off. It hissed as the pressure was released, loud enough to be heard.

"Are you drinking, Mac?" Jack questioned him with a hint of surprise.

"Uh, yeah, it's a beer. You do remember how old I am, right Jack?"

"Yeah, but I'm not within five miles of a beer and now that I've heard that I really want one. It's not fair."

"Sorry."

"Where's the solidarity, man?"

"Want me to pour it down the sink?"

"And waste good beer? Whatever, it's fine." Jack dismissed his suggestion. "You'll just have to buy me a beer when I get back."

"I'll buy you a whole pack, big guy." Mac promised as he wandered back to the sofa.

"Oh that reminds me, when I get back I'm gonna have to introduce you to Stan. You would not _believe _what he did the other week. We were in a very fine drinking establishment, and before you go thinking I'm not working hard out here; I was on the job and we were looking for someone that we'd heard frequented said fine establishment. It was a real fancy place and this stunning woman across the bar catches Stan's eye. So Stan does what any gentleman would do and sends a drink her way. I'm not real sure if he thought she had useful information or if he was just appreciating a beautiful woman but oh _man_, you'll never guess what happened next!"

Mac sank back into the cushions on the sofa and got comfortable as Jack got into the full swing of his story. He laughed when he heard what Stan did next and his gaze fell back to the Christmas tree where the lights were twinkling.

Amongst the remains of the wrapping paper was a handwritten note:

_Merry Christmas, Blondie_

This is my Christmas contribution to the Macgyver fandom. Thank you for welcoming my attempts at writing again. It's a little bit sad, a little bit happy and will hopefully leave you with a warm smile!

Yes, the concept for this is shamelessly borrowed from a NCIS: Los Angeles Christmas episode. I had intended to write a completely different 'Jack calls Mac' season 3 fic but I think a combination of being reminded of the NCIS moment and reading Impossiblepluto's daily Christmas fics caused this to be written in one sitting yesterday. Which is not my normal writing process at all! Also, if you have any recs for more 'Jack calls Mac' or vice versa fics, I'd love to read them! It's been a long while since I've written consistently in any fandom (the last time LiveJournal was very active). Where do you all hang out now? I could do with a beta for a longer X-Ray + Penny fic I'm working on and I'm not sure where to ask. 


End file.
